Systems Vehicle
A Systems Vehicle was a type of very large general purpose Culture spacecraft. They were the largest conventional spacecraft built and operated by the Culture.Hydrogen Sonata, chapter 20 Types The most capable SVs were classified as General Systems Vehicles (GSV). The size range for GSVs was considerable. The was a GSV from at least the 14th century CE - despite much larger GSVs existing at the time - to at least the 19th century CE.Excession, chapter 3.4 The was classified as a GSV from at least the 14th century CE''Surface Detail, chapter 9 to at least the 29th century CE, even when the larger had entered service by the 24th century CE. Limited Systems Vehicles (LSV) also existed.Consider Phlebas, ''Dramatis personaeHydrogen Sonata, chapter 11 Medium Systems Vehicles (MSV) were very small SVs. The , the first type of GSV, was reclassified as a MSV after being superseded by much larger ships.Hydrogen Sonata, chapter 5 Function SVs were self-sufficient socio-cultural-economic units, and were the Culture's pre-eminent ambassadors.Consider Phlebas, chapter 7''Hydrogen Sonata, chapter 20 SVs regularly constructed and served as bases for smaller craft, including smaller SVs.The Player of Games, chapter 2Excession, chapter 5.3 Each was popularly regarded as containing the Culture in microcosm,Surface Detail, chapter 10 and capable of "rebuilding" the Culture in the event of a catastrophe. The largest GSVs had billions of sapient inhabitants or passengers. They were likened to be the cities of the Culture because of their high population densities. Most of the Culture lived on Orbitals, which offered much greater space per person.The Player of Games, chapter 1 Ships which were accommodation biased had self-sustaining populations that allowed them to crew the ships they constructed. Ship-construction biased - or "throughput" in Contact parlance - ships served as staging areas for off-ship personnel and docked ships. An atypical SV role was to go into self-imposed communicative and physical isolation as an Oubliettionary. In this role, they were typically uninhabited except for a few drones and attendant ships. Description Structure Earlier classes of SV had a central physical hull.Consider Phlebas, chapter 8Excession, chapter 7.2 The hull was subdivided into different sizes and types of "bays"; these included Mainbays,Excession, chapter 10.6 Limited bays,Excession, chapter 12.6 General bays, Intermediate bays,Matter, chapter 13 Medium bays,Hydrogen Sonata, chapter 9 and Smallbays. Later the physical hull was surrounded by a multiple-layer field-complex - a force field enclosure. The enclosure greatly increased the ship's effective internal volume and acted as the outer hull.Look to Windward, chapter 2Surface Detail, chapter 5 Control systems Large GSVs were typically controlled by multiple MindsExcession, chapter 3.4Use of Weapons, chapter 4 operating semi-independently. History The Systems Vehicle was conceived as a Very Large Fast Self-Sufficient Ship. The first class of GSV, the 3.5 km long , was in service ca. 6th century BCE.Excession, chapter 2.2 The type grew larger from there. Much larger GSVs, including ones with over 9 km of physical thickness, were extant by the Idiran-Culture War on the 14th century CE. GSVs constructed during the lead-up to the war were designed for conversion into direct combat spacecraft. They fulfilled this role early in the war when Offensive Units were rare. Combat GSVs were powerful single-units, but lacked the inherent flexibility of a fleet of smaller spacecraft;Look to Windward, chapter 12 very large GSVs were regarded as obsolescent for combat purposes. The high-value nature of GSVs meant their deployment into combat was a concern for strategic-planning Minds. By the 19th century CE, construction of GSV twice the length with eight times the volume of the ''Deserts was routine within even larger GSVs; by this time Deserts were classified as MSVs. The , which entered service at least a few centuries before the 24th century CE, were the largest conventional Culture spacecraft of their time. Unlike earlier SVs, these ships did not have a central physical hull; the main structure was provided exclusively by fields, allowing for a length of 200 km. The Culture had several hundred thousand SVs in the 29th century CE. References Category:Very large spacecraft Category:Spacecraft of the Culture